Farm facelift: Budget offers hope for agri, but is it enough to modernise?

Besides the tech issue, the Budget may not have addressed some other concerns relevant for the agriculture sector

Will the recent Union Budget announcem­ents for the farm sector help  make India’s agriculture sector future ready and modern? That’s a question at the centre of many debates since February 1, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget. So, what really happened?  

 

The Budget made some major announcements not only for agriculture but also for the allied sectors. On top of that, there was a significant rise in the budgetary allocation in the area. The combination of the two decisions triggered a narrative suggesting this was an agriculture-centric Budget, to some extent.

 

The allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture